The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment's fast radio burst project discovered 25 repeating fast radio bursts coming from deep space and 14 potential repeaters. This discovery doubles the number of known fast radio bursts.
Thousands of fast radio bursts have been discovered, but few among them have been determined to repeat. The origins of these radio signals are still unknown. It is believed that they result from the explosions of stars originating outside of the Milky Way galaxy. Aside from repeating or not repeating, these different types of fast radio bursts have several more characteristics that distinguish them from each other, including their frequencies, according to a news release from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics.
"It is exciting that CHIME/FRB saw multiple flashes from the same locations, as this allows for the detailed investigation of their nature," Adaeze Ibik, a researcher at the institute, said in a statement. "We were able to hone in on some of these repeating sources and have already identified likely associated galaxies for two of them."
According to the institute, discovering a larger pool of repeating fast radio bursts can help determine if they share a similar origin to those that do not repeat. Some fast radio bursts may repeat so infrequently that they have not been observed as repeating fast radio bursts.
The CHIME radio telescope and others like it have greatly increased the number of fast radio bursts observed in recent years. The research team has observed all of the known repeating bursts, though many of them only repeat once a week.
"We can now accurately calculate the probability that two or more bursts coming from similar locations are not just a coincidence," Dr. Ziggy Pleunis, a Dunlap postdoctoral fellow, said in a statement. "These new tools were essential for this study, and will also be very useful for similar research going forward."
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